"Era of Major Industrial Structure and Labor Environment Transformation... Labor Standards Act Must Also Be Updated to Reflect Reality"

Korea Employers Federation 'Labor Standards Act Improvement Measures' Forum
"Dismissal Regulations Must Be Relaxed for Employment Flexibility"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] As we enter a great transformation era where industrial structures and labor environments are rapidly changing, the business community has called for revising the Labor Standards Act, which has been uniformly maintained for 70 years. In particular, it was pointed out that to increase employment flexibility, the procedure for changing employment rules should be simplified and dismissal regulations should be eased.

On the 10th, Lee Dong-geun, Vice Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, said at the 'Labor Standards Act Improvement Measures' forum held at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, "Our Labor Standards Act, enacted in 1953, still remains in the initial uniform regulatory method," and added, "It is necessary to revise the law to enable reasonable adjustment of labor contracts based on the principle of freedom of contract."

He continued, "We need to improve the system to allow diverse and individualized determination of working conditions based on the 'performance' of work, rather than the uniform determination of working conditions based on the 'quantity' of labor, by improving excessively rigid employment regulations."

Professor Kim Hee-sung of Kangwon National University argued, "There can be no labor law norms beyond economic conditions," and said, "The Labor Standards Act must be reorganized for the modernization of labor law." Professor Kim said, "The current Labor Standards Act system has limitations in regulating individualized and diversified labor relations," and added, "It should be improved to maintain labor market stability while realizing flexibility."

He pointed out, "Labor law regulations on labor contracts should be gradually reduced, and the scope of freedom of contract should be relatively expanded," and added, "The rigidity of the procedure for changing employment rules makes it difficult to change flexible in-house personnel and labor systems."

At the forum, there was also a claim that dismissal regulations should be eased to increase employment flexibility, citing examples from major countries such as the United States and Germany. Professor Lee Jung of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies pointed out, "In the United States, unless there is a special provision restricting contractual dismissal, dismissal can be made at any time according to the principle of freedom of dismissal," and "Germany recognizes dismissal for personal reasons in addition to disciplinary dismissal or dismissal for business reasons."

However, Professor Lee explained, "In Korea, even if the employment environment changes and management is difficult, measures such as changing the wage system cannot be taken without the collective consent of workers," and added, "The procedure for changing employment rules should be simplified." He emphasized, "In the case of dismissal, reasons for dismissal related to the personal circumstances of workers should be specified as in Germany, or ordinary dismissal should be included in general provisions as in Japan."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.